The Warren County R-III School District has been working to explore ways to attract and keep top educators within its buildings.During the monthly board meeting Sept. 13, Assistant Superintendent Dr. …
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The Warren County R-III School District has been working to explore ways to attract and keep top educators within its buildings.During the monthly board meeting Sept. 13, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Aaron Jones shared retention numbers that he described as “not acceptable in any district.”At the conclusion of the 2017-18 school year 52 percent of the staff who left R-III transitioned to another district, with 38 percent of departing teachers retiring.R-III retained 83 percent of its staff from last school year.“Our goal is to get that up to 90 percent,” said Jones.One of the driving factors has been staff seeking higher salary opportunities in districts to the east.“Our challenge is to get them to be a part of our community and in the meantime find ways to have a competitive salary,” said Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith.Over the past five years R-III has lost a dozen staff to both Wentzville and Francis Howell districts.“Wentzville is five times as large as our district, yet has lost less people to other districts,” said Klinginsmith. “To me, that is concerning.”It has been such an alarming topic for the board and administration that they made it one of their four school improvement goals during the spring retreat, with the declaration to attract, develop and retain highly qualified staff to carry out the district mission, goals and objectives.“We’re looking at salary discrepancy between us and other districts,” said Jones.Another move has been focusing on allowing teachers to specialize on their tasks and not be overloaded.“We’re really trying to examine our culture and understand why,” said Klinginsmith. “Is it more than money that people are leaving for?”One advancement seems to be the decision prior to the 2017-18 school year to utilize Penmac hiring service to provide contracted substitute teachers. The availability of substitute teachers through this move prevented full-time staff from having to “cover” classes during their plan time.“I think it’s been a real success to use Penmac,” said Jones. “Continuing to have them work with us has been a real strong positive.”Warren County R-III School District logo
